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100 Most Influential People Slideshow - CFOs

See the CFOs from Treasury & Risk's 2012 100 Most Influential People in Finance List.

Brandt has led the technology company’s finance function through three major acquisitions— BusinessObjects, Sybase and SuccessFactors—in the last four years. Now he faces integrating a fourth acquisition, of e-commerce company Ariba.

Callahan, who joined McGraw-Hill in 2010 after serving as CFO at Dean Foods, is dealing with McGraw-Hill’s split into two public units by spinning off its education unit. The effort involves extensive cost cuts and the disaggregation of the work done by the company’s shared services center.

Paul ClancyCFO & EVPBiogen Idec

Since becoming CFO of the biotech drug company in 2007, Clancy has coped with proxy battles mounted by activist investor Carl Icahn and turnover in the CEO spot. More recently, he’s overseen a resurgence in Biogen’s stock.

David GraziosiCFO, Treasurer & EVPAllison Transmission

Graziosi joined Allison in 2007, shortly after it was purchased from General Motors, and since then has built the financial infrastructure necessary for a standalone company, improved the balance sheet by cutting debt and played a key role in the company’s IPO earlier this year.

Daniel HenryCFO & EVPAmerican Express

As other financial firms capsized amid the market meltdown, Henry helped American Express successfully navigate the crisis. And this year, he was recruited to join the board of Groupon to provide accounting expertise after the coupon company had to restate its 2011 financial results.

David HerzogCFO & EVPAmerican International Group

Herzog is leading an epic turnaround at the insurer, the progress of which was evidenced by the Treasury’s sale of another chunk of its AIG stake in May. The effort to mend the insurer involves a host of strategic decisions by the CFO.

Ronald JadinCFO & SVPW.W. Grainger

As finance chief for the distributor of industrial products since 2008, Jadin worked to contain costs by doing more with less as he steered the company through the recession.

Joe KaeserCFOSiemens

Kaesar gained recognition for responding to the impact of the eurozone crisis earlier than many other finance executives. He also has obtained a banking license for Siemens from the German Financial Supervisory Authority and set up a new financial operating model, One Siemens, that’s focused on capital efficiency.

Seturaman MahalingamCFO & Executive DirectorTata Consultancy Services

A 40-year employee of the Indian IT services provider and its CFO since 2003, Mahalingam has played a key role in Tata’s growth into a $10 billion global company that is outpacing its Indian rivals.

Scott MorrisonCFO & SVPBall Corp.

Morrison and his team put together an enterprise risk mapping system run on Ball Corp.’s intranet that lets the company assess and prepare for potential risks. He also extended Ball’s debt maturities for 10 years at favorable rates, strengthening the company’s financial structure.

Peter OppenheimerCFO & SVPApple

Oppenheimer and Apple made a splash earlier this year by deciding to issue a dividend for the first time ever. As the tech company’s finance chief since 2004, Oppenheimer has a reputation for being a strategic CFO with strong people skills.

Vasant PrabhuCFO & Vice ChairmanStarwood Hotel & Resorts

While steering the company through the downturn, Prabhu managed to cut costs and reduce debt to position the hotel operator for the recovery. Now Starwood is expanding rapidly in markets such as Latin America, China and the Middle East.

Kimberly RossCFO & EVPAvon Products

Since joining the beauty products company last fall, Ross has dealt with turnover in the CEO position and a takeover bid from Coty, while overseeing a finance department dealing with a long-running Foreign Corrupt Practices Act investigation. Next up: executing a turnaround.

James SawyerCFO & EVPPraxair

Sawyer, who has held the CFO position for the last 12 years, developed a strategy to better link Praxair’s decision making process with its financial objectives, in part by more tightly controlling capital spending resulting in industry leading return on capital. Praxair has provided an annualized shareholder return of 16% over the past decade

Tracey TravisCFO & SVP, FinanceRalph Lauren

Travis has served as finance chief for the apparel company since 2005, and over the last year and a half, she has presided over an impressive performance by the company’s stock.

Kathy WillardCFO & EVPLive Nation Entertainment

Willard has handled the financial aspects of divestitures, spin-offs and more than 200 acquisitions for the giant entertainment company, most notably its 2010 acquisition of Ticketmaster.

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